A Court Of Thorns and Roses Book Review and The Start of My Downward Spiral

Genre: Fantasy, YA/NA

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price …

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jeweled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

Rating 3.5/5

With her Throne of Glass series, SJM is arguably one of the most popular YA fantasy writers out there. When word of her “steamy new series” came out, YAverse practically imploded.

Hype ensued.

Cue wariness and skepticism from my little wary and skeptic heart.

I gotta be honest, the first parts of the book were honestly slowwww. Like traffic on a payday on a long weekend slow. This was kind of how it went:

Okay, poor hunter girl Feyre (Fay-ruh).

Okay, snow.

Is she trying to pull a Hunger Games on me?

Okay, Hunger Games with faeries.

Oooh, a dead wolf.

Okay, evil sisters.

I thought this was Beauty and The Beast, not Snow White?

Ooooh there, a beast! Who’s whisking her off to some mystical place! Now we’re talking.

The parallels to Beauty and the Beast–and the story itself– didn’t really pick up until a few chapters in. With SJM, really, it really takes a bit of patience. I remember plodding through the first few chapters of Throne of Glass, too. It gave me a bit of a migraine.

But here’s the thing with this book: good things come to those who endure a seemingly slow few exposition chapters. And I mean really good things.

Because once the ball starts rolling, it doesn’t stop until it the story blows right in your face.The succeeding chapters were a tension-packed ride. Feyre as a character was…quite annoying at first but you can’t help but to root for her at the same time. I can’t say the same for her love interest, Tamlin. I’d love to tell you why, but that’s another story. *wink,wink* 🙂

Another thing that I loved about ACOTAR was that you really didn’t know who the villain was. It was a guessing game all the way until the end. And the ending totally wrecked me. Like literally wrecked me. Like, left me frantically searching for the next book. This was the start of my downward spiral into a Sarah J Maas trashcan. I started out a cynic, I ended up a believer. It’s insane.

So all in all, I think ACOTAR did a great job building the world of Prythian and the characters. At the same time, I kind of feel like the entire book was just a prelude into a much bigger picture. The 3.5 rating is for the excruciatingly slow pace at the beginning. But aside from that, I’d say this was a good prelude to the rest of the series, which is coming up next!

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